Zen-chan
by BlackViper127
Summary: A cute romantic story of 2 most underrated characters in Gintama, Zenzou and Sacchan.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Wake up!"

"Hmm…?" murmured the sleepy brown-haired ninja, who was trying to insulate all noises by sinking deeper into the futon.

"Wake up, Zen-chan!" The person calls louder with a commanding voice.

Zen-chan? All the servants in his house have to call him Zenzou-sama. The only people who call him Zen-chan is the old neighbour lady and…

"Zen-chan, I'm gonna throw away your Jump magazines if you don't wake up."

"NOOO! Not my Jump!" Immediately he rose from his futon and moved in front of the Jump magazine stack, as quick as a shadowcat. From the half-opened corner of his eyes through his scrubby hair that covered half of his face, he saw a familiar person whom he had not seen for a long time: his mom, Koyuki.

"Really, you haven't changed at all." Zenzou's mom gave a sigh of relief.

She had been living separately from Zenzou's father and him ever since Zenzou was too young to understand anything. Every now and then, she still visited her son with a manga character toy or a colored version of his favorite manga. She would listen to him all day about what manga he was following, what character he admired the most, stuff that his ninja father considered boring and childish.

"Mom! I haven't seen you for so long. How have you been?" Zenzou gladly welcomed his mom with a warm hug, one that he never gave to anyone else.

"Well, I've been good. I've found myself someone and we've been living together happily. He's got some business overseas to deal with in the next month, so I figure I should check up on my baby." She seemed to intentionally emphasize on the word "baby" to tease Zenzou.

"I'm not a baby anymore, Mom." Just as she thought, Zenzou was easily offended by this word.

"So, how have you been, Zen-chan?"

"I've been so excited with this new manga on Jump recently. It's called…"

"Zen-chan, I'm not asking about your Jump magazines. What I meant is, how's your life? Have you got yourself a girlfriend?"

Zenzou was slightly uncomfortable with her questions because he knew his answers would only worry her. What else can he say about the life of an assassin beside that it is full of hatred and blood and vengeance? And there comes the second question. What kind of girl would accept her boyfriend as someone who kills for money?

The silence answered it all, though. He did not need to say a word for his mom to understand that life is tough and cruel in this era, especially for someone in his line of work.

"Zen-chan, you know that I love you and just want all the best for you. I just want to see you happily married to a girl, have children and live a normal life as everybody else."

Her words deeply touched him. He knew that. He wanted a normal life as well. Ever since he was a kid, he was taken into the ninja academy by his old man without even knowing what it meant to be a ninja. All he knew was he had to do it and he had to be good at it. He never knew the other lives.

"Actually, I do have someone I'm interested in."

"Is that so?" Koyuki's face brightened so visibly that he felt the whole room was being lit up.

"Here, I have a photo of her. Take a look." He took a photo from his wardrobe and tossed it to his mother in the air.

"But this is…" Koyuki hesitated when she saw the photo.

"Isn't her face unique? You see those teeth. It's just so black and so amazingly strange, you know. Everytime she opens her mouth…" He excitedly described a hostess whom he met the other day at the Ugly Girl Club run by Hinowa.

"Zen-chan, I'm gonna tell this to you. When you love someone, it's their soul that you love. If you really love her, it must be her soul that you love, not her teeth, or her face, or any other superficial things. By the way, who the hell would love those teeth, you idiot?" Her last sentence did not exactly match with what she was saying earlier on.

"Relax, mom. We only met once. I would have plenty of time to get to know her."

"What I meant is you should also consider pretty girls, or average girls and not just ugly girls."

It's obvious you also pay attention to appearance, Mom! – Zenzou thought to himself.

Ding dong!

"Zenzou, it's me, Sacchan!" Ayame immediately identified herself outside the gate. This is probably a habit of a ninja. Ninjas hate surprises because they are met with surprises all the time.

"Sacchan? Is she the pretty lavender-haired classmate of yours back then?" Koyuki said with great eagerness.

"Yeah, that's her."

"Are you two dating? Oh gosh, I'm so happy for you." Koyuki shook her son's arms and her cheeks were getting slightly rosy from excitement.

"No, we're…"

"Zenzou, where are you, you hemorrhoid ninja?" Ayame shouted through the gate.

"Oh my, she even knew about your hemorrhoid? You guys must be close." Said Koyuki.

Yeah, of course she knows. It's thanks to her that I got it! – Zenzou thought to himself as he headed towards the gate.

He opened the small door to make sure it was Ayame who stood there and not some imposter trying to imitate her voice. Then he opened the door for her. She was wearing her usual kimono and the straw hat that covered half of her face, but her trademark lavender hair was always the first thing he saw and he immediately knew it was her.

"I got something important to tell you." The stern look in her face worried Zenzou the moment she looked up at him.

"Obviously. You wouldn't visit my house otherwise anyway."

"Sacchan! Long time no see, honey." Koyuki enthusiastically shook Ayame's hands.

Why the heck is she so friendly with Sarutobi?

"Hattori-san! You still remember me?" Ayame replied with equal enthusiasm.

"Of course, honey. You were one of the best students in the class. The old geezer had none but compliments for you."

"That's so nice to hear! So, how have you been?"

The conversation then was just between Ayame and Koyuki, making Ayame forgot her purpose of coming there.

"Oi! Are you here to talk to me or to my Mom?" Zenzou finally had to step in when the conversation started veering towards the topic of his hemorrhoid.

"Oh, that's right. I'll talk to you later, Hattori-san."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"So, what's so important that you have to drag your ass all the way here to talk to me?" Zenzou said while flipping through his latest Shonen Jump magazines. His annoying habit of talking while reading Jump had pissed off a lot of people, but Ayame did not want to waste time fighting with him over this.

"Do you remember the assassination mission that both of us once joined back in the Oniwabanshuu?"

"The failed mission, right?" Zenzou said bluntly.

"Yes. That was the only thing you remember about it?" Ayame said with a slight annoyance.

"No, the best part was that you were the one who screwed up, and your punishment was to go clean the toilet for Matsudaira for one full month." Zenzou said and laughed as he recalled the incident. "But I gotta admit, you have a talent for cleaning toilets. I always enjoyed sitting in that toilet after you cleaned it…"

Before Zenzou could finish his sentence, Ayame landed a kick into his ass and sent him flying across the room. Everytime she talked to him, he always had to make the conversation sound extremely disgusting.

"Anyway, the guy that we were supposed to assassinate, Murakami, is back."

"Hmm, interesting." Ayame was not sure whether he was commenting on what she said or whatever he was reading on his Jump magazine.

Murakami Takuya was the high-ranking corrupted official who, back then, was also secretly a trained assassin. He managed to retain his position in the bakufu due to his ability to assassinate people without a trace. He did not need to hire expensive assassin outside to kill those he wanted to kill. He would do it himself and he would do it better than any other assassins out there. Moreover, in the ninja world, he was an extremely skilled ninja who was also known as the "Silent Death God", referring to his ability to move swiftly without a sound. Zenzou and Ayame were assigned to a special ninja team gathered by Matsudaira to assassinate this corrupted official since the Shinsengumi were unable to touch him. But in the end, they failed the mission and Murakami managed to escape.

"How did you know he was back?" Zenzou asked after letting the information sink in for a moment.

"There were 5 of us on that special team, right? 3 showed up dead just within the last 2 month. One died 2 months ago, another died at the beginning of the month, one just died yesterday. And the way they died is exactly Murakami style."

Zenzou kept silent.

"Dying for a ninja is not too uncommon, but 3 skilled ninja being killed just within 2 months, this could be more than just a mere coincidence." Ayame continued.

"So we're the only targets left, right?" Zenzou finally closed his Jump magazine and sat up. She could tell he was still having difficulty sitting up properly due to his hemorrhoid. "Though we failed that mission, Murakami's true color was revealed to the bakufu and from a high-ranking official, he turned into a wanted criminal. It's no wonder he hated us."

"Murakami has a very wide network. He has eyes and ears everywhere. If he seriously wants to find us, it will not be long before he reaches our doorstep." Ayame stressed the seriousness of the situation.

"Then I suggest you stay at my house for a while. The more you walk out on the street, the more information you would give to Murakami. Also, my house is far away from the Kabuki-cho, where all the gossips and rumors spread around like wildfire." Zenzou said without much hesitation.

"Yeah, I guess it would be safer that way. After all, there are two of us. 2 is better than 1." Ayame agreed. "By the way, what about your mom? Shouldn't you tell her to get away from this house? You may get her involved, you know."

"I don't know what to say to make her leave. I don't want to tell her that I may be a potential target for a professional assassin."

"Then what if Murakami reaches the gate of your house, are you going to tell her that he is your friend coming to visit you?" Ayame mocked.

"She's gonna leave in a week. I'm sure Murakami wouldn't be able to find us that fast. As long as both of us stay inside, we should be fine. The servants will do everything for us, buy our food and my Jump, although I don't really feel like entrusting that task to them. Did anyone follow you to my house?"

"Do you think I'm the type who would let people tail me that easily?"

"Then that's good. He shouldn't be able to reach here by this week."

"Fine. Do what you want. But you'd better prepare a good story to lie to your mom about why I'm staying here with you."

_She would be more than happy to hear about that news, I bet! _– Zenzou thought to himself.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Really, Sacchan? You are moving in?" Koyuki's eyes literally shone.

"Yeah, but we're not staying in one room. I mean, that would be too fast for us, right Zenzou?" Ayame said and hugged Zenzou's left arm to act like his girlfriend. Although she said he had to prepare a story to tell his mom, it seemed like he did not need to prepare at all. She was pretty good at acting and making up stories herself.

"Aww you two are cute." Koyuki said as she dotingly pinched Zenzou's cheeks. "I've always wanted someone to help me take care of Zen-chan, you know. He's always been alone, reading Jump like a kid and with his hemorrhoid…"

"Don't worry. I got it." Ayame interrupted Koyuki, not wanting to hear anything disturbing regarding Zenzou's hemorrhoid.

After Koyuki left the room, Ayame let go of Zenzou's arm and put her two arms on her hip.

"I gotta feeling this whole we-shall-stay-together-in-one-house thing is not about Murakami, but about assuring your Mom that you are having a girlfriend. You usually hate the idea of banding up together, don't you?"

"You really are sharp." Zenzou scratched his unkempt hair. "I'm sorry for making you pretend to be my girlfriend. But my mom had always been worried about me, and I don't want her to. She had spent her whole life doing so."

Ayame turned around to watch Koyuki in the kitchen from afar. She did not know that Zenzou had this sensitive side of him.

"It doesn't matter, as long as you keep this between us and don't let it spread to Gin-san."

"As if he would care about it." Zenzou said with a sarcastic smirk.

"What did you say?" Ayame turned around to look at Zenzou with fire-burning eyes. She could be really scary sometimes.

"No, nothing. Forget about it."

It was decided between Ayame and Zenzou that she would sleep in the living room and he would still sleep in his room, but Koyuki found that it was not gentlemen of Zenzou to let Ayame sleep in the living room, so she made them swap.

"Fine, you can sleep in my room. Make sure my Jump magazines are neatly in place. I put them in numerical order so you'd better not mix them up."

"Who cares about your stupid shounen manga?" Ayame said and went straight to Zenzou's room.

* * *

_It was a usual Monday morning, where all the students in the ninja academy were lying on the table, their eyes were half-closed or some were fully closed, drained of all energy as they did not want to think of the week ahead. The cheerful teacher, Zenzou's father, entered the classroom with a flashy somersault and a surprise for the class: a new student._

_"__Kids, wake up! It's the beginning of the week. Cheer up and bring energy to life!"_

_Who the heck can bring energy to life on a Monday morning, geezer? – Zenzou just wanted to say that out loud._

_"__Today, we got a new student joining us, Sarutobi Ayame-chan. Let's welcome her with our greatest energy!"_

_"__Hi, I'm Sarutobi Ayame, but please call me Sacchan. Nice to meet all of you." Ayame introduced herself to the class._

_The whole class immediately fired up after seeing the little girl with a pair of red glasses. The guys started discussing about how cute she looked with glasses, the girls started gossiping about how her face was as emotionless as a doll._

_"__Sacchan, is it? Your seat is right at the back of the class, over there. Zenzou, help her out, will ya?" Zenzou's father pointed to an empty table next to Zenzou._

_"__Okay…" Zenzou replied with a grumpy, sleepy voice. It was obvious he had no intention of helping Ayame at all._

* * *

_Ayame was walking back home when she got stopped by a group of girls whom she recognized as her classmates._

_"__Sacchan, huh? You think that name is cute?" One girl stepped in front of Ayame and grabbed her hair._

_"__What are you doing?" Ayame held her hair so that her hair would not be pulled out._

_"__Your name is Sarutobi, so shouldn't you be called Saru-chan? Oh, I get it. You don't want to be called a monkey, do you?" She pulled Ayame's hair stronger._

_"__Who the hell are you? Why are you doing this to me?"_

_"__We are your nice classmates who found your face a little bit emotionless and wanted to add some emotion to it." The girl took out a kunai and pressed it against Ayame's cheeks._

_"__Oh, I see. You guys are jealous of me because I was more popular with the guys than you guys." Ayame said with a straight face._

_"__Shut up!" Another girl slapped Ayame hard. "You've got some nerves talking to us like that. If you know your place…"_

_"__Hey, what are you guys doing?" Ayame heard Zenzou's father husky voice._

_The bullies immediately ran after hearing their teacher's voice and left Ayame behind. Ayame calmly stood up and adjusted her messed up hair, as if nothing had happened._

_"__Hey Sacchan, are you alright? Were they bullying you?" Zenzou's father asked with great concern._

_"__I'm alright. They tried to bully me but you were there to stop them." Ayame replied with a matter-of-fact tone._

_"__Zenzou, why didn't you help her? You call yourself a man?" Zenzou's father shouted upwards, and that was when Ayame noticed that Zenzou was lying on a nearby tree and reading his manga. He was there the whole time but did not interfere in at all._

_"__This chapter is so interesting, I couldn't stop reading it." Zenzou was still reading the manga when he replied his father._

_"__Get down here, you idiot." Zenzou's father shot a kunai towards Zenzou and only until then did Zenzou get his eyes off his manga book. But he refused to get down. Instead, he shot another kunai back to his father and ran away._

_"__Zenzou, I said get down here." Zenzou's father got carried away and chased after his wayward son. Ayame, still very composed, picked up her books and went back home._

* * *

_"__And the one with the highest score for today's kunai throwing lesson is Sarutobi Ayame with 987/1000. Let's give her a hand, everyone!" The teacher for the kunai throwing subject announced and the whole class gave her a loud applause. Some even let out a gasp of surprise because of her impressive score._

_"__Sacchan, although with a not-so-perfect eyesight, could still beat you all in kunai throwing. You guys gotta train harder on this." The teacher continued._

_Even Zenzou was taken aback by this score. He usually was one of the top in kunai throwing, and she beat his record by a landslide._

* * *

_"__And the one with the best hand-to-hand combat skill for today's class is Zenzou with a score of 9.8/10. That's what the other teachers rated him. Personally I would give him a 5." Zenzou's father announced the score without forgetting to add a few snide remarks._

_"__Old man, I'm pretty sure I'm better than you when you were my age. Don't be jealous!" Zenzou arrogantly teased his father back._

_"__Wait until this session is over and you're done with me, boy. And the second best student is Sarutobi Ayame with a score of 9/10. Good job, Sacchan!"_

_Her again? Zenzou started turning around to take a good look at Ayame. Wasn't she the one who got bullied the other day? She could have beaten those bullies in the blink of an eye if her score was that impressive._

_The girls who attempted to bully Ayame the other day were shocked because they all thought Ayame was weak and easy to bully. They looked at Ayame and chattered to each other with a worried look on their face._

* * *

_"__You cheated in class, didn't you?" The bullying girls said as they kept stomping on Ayame's head._

_"__I didn't cheat. If I did, sensei would have found out." Ayame just used her two hands to cover her head but did not attempt to fight back._

_"__You think we were idiots? There's no way someone who could not even see could throw a kunai."_

_"__Yes, you guys definitely are idiots. I'm just short-sighted but not blind. I can still see fine with my glasses." Ayame continued to insult her bullies with a fearless face._

_"__You bitch, how dare you?" The bullying girls continued stomping on Ayame ruthlessly._

_Suddenly, Ayame heard the sound of multiple kunai hitting the grounds._

_"__You guys are so noisy, you know that?" Ayame heard a male's voice, but definitely not her teacher's voice. This voice was much softer._

_"__Who the heck are you?" One of the girls was on her ready-to-fight stance._

_"__Hey, that's Hattori Zenzou, you know. He's sensei's son." Another girl whispered to her brazen friend. After she heard of his name, she immediately stepped back and looked much more cautious than before._

_"__He's big trouble. Don't get involved with him. Let's go." Another one whispered and pulled her friends away._

_After the girls left, Ayame looked up and saw Zenzou, with the exact position and posture as last time, lying on the tree, reading manga. He didn't interfere in last time, but perhaps his father had taught him a lesson._

_"__Hey, Zenzou…"_

_"__No need to say thanks. I didn't do it for you. They were just so noisy I couldn't focus on reading my manga." Zenzou said, continued flipping his book._

_"__Actually, I know that. I wasn't going to say thanks." As soon as she finished her sentence, unexpectedly, Ayame shot a kunai up towards Zenzou, piercing right through his manga book._

_"__Hey! What the heck?" Zenzou angrily sat up. "What did you do that for?"_

_"__Next time, before you shoot your kunai, please take your eyes off that stupid book and look at where you're throwing. My leg got hit by your kunai." Ayame grunted and pointed towards the scratch on her thigh._

_"__In any case, I saved you, didn't I? Is that how you treated your savior?"_

_"__Didn't you just say that you didn't do it for me?" Ayame looked very stubborn right now, unlike her submissive self just a minute earlier, as if she had switched her personality entirely._

_ "__You really are an interesting person." Zenzou said with a naughty smirk on his face. "Impressive score in class, great at kunai throwing techniques, great hand-to-hand combat skills, you could have beaten those girls to a pulp. Yet, you chose not to do it. You let them beat you up unreasonably. Then, when it comes to the person who saved you, you got angry just because he accidentally shot a kunai at your thigh." _

_"__I don't want to waste my time fighting those pests. If I accidentally hurt them, it would just bring more troubles for me. But with you, I know it would take more than just a kunai to hurt you."_

_"__Hmm, so you consider those girls unworthy to fight and consider me your equal. Well, you've got quite an arrogant attitude for a girl. I'm sorry to say this, but you are definitely way below my level."_

_Ayame got pissed off and turned to her fighting stance. "You wanna try me?"_

_Zenzou jumped down from the tree and felt his blood starting to boil from excitement._

_"__A guy who reads shounen manga all day and does not put in his effort to train can never surpass me." Ayame held kunai between her fingers and threw them towards Zenzou._

_"__And you think a girl who cannot distinguish a person and a tree without her glasses can be my equal?" Zenzou swiftly avoided the kunai._

_Then, he suddenly disappeared right in front of Ayame's eyes. Ayame was shocked at his moving speed and before she could react to it, Zenzou already appeared behind her. From behind, he took off Ayame's glasses and before she could turn around to hit him, he had already moved away and stood in front of her the next second._

_He's so fast! – Ayame had heard how everyone praised Zenzou's speed and predicted that he would surpass his father in just a few years, but until then did she truly know how fast he could really be._

_"__Without your glasses, you are just a useless ninja. This match, I won." Zenzou put Ayame's glasses on the ground and walked away from her._

_"__There's something you should know." Ayame said, getting a kunai ready in her hand. "You don't need eyes to throw a kunai."_

_The surprised attack caught Zenzou off-guard and before he could react to it, the kunai already hit his backside, right at the spot._

_"__AAAAAAH!" Zenzou screamed and ran around in circle. "Get it out get it out!"_

_"__So, am I your equal now?" Ayame stood with her hands on her hip with a satisfied look on her face, before picking up her glasses and walking away._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Ayame woke up after hearing a loud scream from downstairs.

"Ouch, that hurts, you know." Ayame heard a familiar voice she did not expect to hear in the morning.

_Gin-san! It's definitely him! _Ayame ran straight to the living room and opened the door, to see the silver-haired samurai lying on the floor on his belly, while the other two Yorozuya sitting next to him, and Zenzou behind him.

"Gin-san!" Ayame gladly jumped over to hug Gintoki, but she happened to hug the stack of Jump magazine Zenzou put at the corner of the room instead as she had not got the time to wear her glasses in the morning. The stack fell down and the magazines were all over the place.

"Hey, I just rearranged it. You messed it all up." Zenzou scolded.

"I knew it, you must have missed me so much, right Gin-san? I'm sorry I wasn't at your house yesterday, I should have told you… Ouch!" Ayame still could not distinguish between Gintoki and the Jump magazine stack, and before she could finish her sentence, Gintoki threw the emergency tool kit right next to him at her chin.

"Stupid pig woman, do you know who caused this?" Gintoki angrily pointed towards his backside, which was being covered with medical patches and cottons.

"Caused what? I didn't see anything." Ayame said, still hugging her chin.

"Stop it, Gin-san. We intruded into her room. We should be apologizing." Said Shinpachi.

"But it's not her room in the first place. It's the room of that stupid hemorrhoid ninja." Gintoki said, pointing towards Zenzou.

"Sarutobi is staying in my house for a while. She…"

Ayame immediately stuffed cotton from the emergency tool kit into Zenzou's mouth to make him stop talking.

"It's business. There's nothing between us. We are purely colleagues and we definitely did not do this thing like I did with you. Believe me, Gin-san." Ayame quickly tried to explain to Gintoki.

"What the heck is this thing you did with me? We didn't do anything. Don't make up stories on your own, pig woman!" Gintoki scolded.

"Anyway, you've got no right to complain. You tried to sneak into my room to steal my Jump magazines. Unforgiveable!" Zenzou started cracking his knuckles.

"I did not steal it. I let you read it first. You promised to give it to me after 2 days and yesterday was the deadline. I came to take back what was mine."

"Hey, could somebody explain to me what's going on?" Ayame was still confused about why Gintoki was injured.

"You mean, you don't remember anything, Sacchan-san?" Shinpachi asked.

Ayame shook her head.

"Last night, the evil thief Gin-san made us sneak into Zenzou-san's house to steal the Jump magazine." Shinpachi started the story.

"Why the hell do you make me the villain of this story, you punk?" Gintoki interrupted.

"Then after we went into Zenzou-san's room, you suddenly rose from his bed and attacked us with your kunai."

"Ha, serve you right." Zenzou nodded with a conceited smile.

"Then before we could make it to the stairs, you threw a kunai directly at Gin-san's backside and yes, that's the end of the story."

"You couldn't have made the story shorter, could you? Why couldn't you just tell the story in just one simple sentence "You attacked Gin-san's backside in your sleep."?" Gintoki said with annoyance.

"I did all that? But I don't remember anything." Ayame hugged her cheeks with both hands.

"Yeah, convenient for you to say, isn't it?" Gintoki grunted.

"I really don't remember. How could I ever attack you, Gin-san?"

"Actually that's kind of believable, given that you managed to attack my weak point many times." Zenzou commented, and received a "killer-mode" look from Ayame. He decided to keep silent as he did not want anything else being shoved up his ass.

"This is horrible. I must make up for my rowdy behavior. Gin-san, take off your pants. I'll take care of your wound." Ayame said blatantly.

"Hey, Kagura-chan here is still young, you know. We cannot allow her to see such dirty things." Said Shinpachi.

"What dirty things? What do you think my ass is made of?" Gintoki grumbled.

"It's okay. I saw my dad without pants once. It was when he fought this fire-blowing Amanto and got his whole pants burned off." Kagura excitedly recalled the incident and laughed hard to herself.

"See? Kagura-chan is okay with it. Any other oppositions?" Ayame said and gave everyone else a death glare. Everyone understood that signal and just kept quiet. "So it's decided. Take off your pants." Ayame turned to Gintoki with a blushing smile.

"Go away, bitch! I oppose it. It's my body. I have the right to oppose." Gintoki shouted and kicked Ayame in the chin again.

"What is all this?" Someone's voice echoed from outside the room, then the sliding door was pushed to one side. Behind the door appeared Zenzou's mother, Koyuki. She gave off a very scary aura just like Otae.

"Did you just hit Sacchan?" Koyuki said, glaring at Gintoki with condemning eyes.

"Ah, no… I mean, yes… But it's harmless. I mean, she looks totally fine, doesn't she?" Gintoki started sweating and moved back from Koyuki. "Sacchan, you are totally fine, aren't you?" He started comforting Ayame and rubbed her shoulders.

"Ow, I think I bit my lips or something. I tasted blood in my mouth." Ayame scowled, trying to push Gintoki into a corner.

"I'll get some water for you." Zenzou played along, did not want to sink ships with the samurai.

"I told you, Gin-san, you are not allowed to hit a girl." Shinpachi also realized this game and played along to avoid getting into trouble.

"Bad Gin-chan!" Kagura followed everyone.

"Why the hell did you two side with them? You are supposed to protect your beloved Gin-san. You want this crazy woman to kill me?" Gintoki was sweating really hard.

"Kagura-chan, I think Gin-san can walk back home on his own. Our work here is done." Shinpachi was already out at the doorstep when he said this.

"That's right, Shinpachi. I need to catch the morning exercise show anyway." Kagura was also at the doorstep with Shinpachi.

"You're leaving me here? Hey! Shinpachi! Kagura! Help me!" Gintoki shouted helplessly.

As Gintoki was being thrown out of the house by Koyuki, Ayame did not interfere but just stood there with a distant look in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Zenzou asked.

"I attacked Gin-san. I couldn't believe I did that."

"Well, you protected my Jump." Zenzou said jokingly.

"It's not about your Jump." Ayame looked at Zenzou with half an eye. "I must have felt something last night. If it was just Gin-san and the others, I wouldn't have attacked him at all."

Ayame's ability to sense danger had always been very keen, Zenzou gotta admit that. That's one of the attributes that could make up for her poor eyesight.

"What was the name of the poison that he always used to assassinate his target? Bya…?" Zenzou said.

"Byakumo, or the White Spider." Ayame replied. "Do you still keep our textbook, the Art of Ninja?"

Zenzou paused for a while to recollect where he kept the book.

"Luckily for us, I don't have the habit of throwing books away, because I'm afraid I may accidentally throw away my manga."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Zenzou took Ayame to a small cabinet placed at the back of his garden. The cabinet was rusty and old, and it looked like it had been years since anyone touched it. Zenzou inserted the key to the door's lock and opened it, using one arm to cover his nose.

"Achoo!" Ayame sneezed the moment the door was opened.

"Sorry about that. No one had touched this cabinet for more than 5 years."

Inside the cabinet, stacks of Jump magazines were placed next to each other, column by column. Ayame had to admit, Zenzou is quite neat for a guy. If she had this many magazines in her house, she would not be able to keep her house neat like this.

"So, what now?" Ayame asked after a long pause between the two.

"So, we gotta dig through my Jump magazines and find that book. Help me with this." Zenzou said and lifted a stack of Jump magazines carefully, not wanting to ruin the neatness of the stack.

Ayame carried the stack and put it outside. Zenzou passed her another stack. She continued to carry it outside, again and again. After the fifth stack, Ayame stopped.

"Hey Zenzou, get out of the way!" Ayame said and entered the cabinet. She used two hands to pull down the highest stack, collapsing it into a pile of magazines.

"What the hell did you just do?" Zenzou gasped. "Oh no! My Jump magazines!"

"We'll put it back later. Do you intend to spend the whole night looking for that book?" Ayame said while literally digging through the magazine pile, making the mess even worse.

"Yeah right, you said that, but in the end, I'm the one putting it back together, aren't I?" Zenzou scrubbed his mop-like hair.

"Ah, there it is!" Ayame pointed to a black book that lied deep below a stack of manga books. She quickly withdrew the book from beneath the stack. The stack lost its base and immediately collapsed onto Zenzou's body.

"Help, Sarutobi! I'm stuck!" Zenzou cried for help, but Ayame pretended to be busy looking through the book and did not pay attention to Zenzou's voice.

"The poison chapter… Ah, the Byakumo poison is here. It is one of the most lethal poisons, but also one of the rarest. It is used mainly by ninja staying near the Hakone mountain region. It is extracted from the venom of the white spider (hence its name) and is said to kill a person with a tiny dosage. The poison will attack the brain of the victim and depending on where it is injected, will result in the timing of death. If injected in the limbs, the victim may die after 2 days. If in the torso, 1 day. If in the spine, 1 hour."

"Is there an antidote for it?" Zenzou asked, still tried to get himself out of the manga book pile.

"Fortunately, yes. But, the problem is, to make this antidote, we need a rare ingredient called the Sentai moss. It's extracted from a type of moss that only grows in the winter season."

"The Sentai moss, you said?"

Ayame nodded. "Yes, the Sentai moss is only used for antidotes of a few rare poisons, so there's no way you can buy it anywhere. You have to harvest and extract it yourself."

"Then I guess we're lucky my old man ran a ninja academy. He used to make me go and harvest a lot of it, just in case we need it. I'm sure we still have some left in the warehouse."

"The antidote or just the moss itself?" Asked Ayame with a raised eyebrow. Knowing Zenzou, he probably would be too lazy to do the extraction and just left the moss to dry up.

"The moss. Don't think we have any antidotes left."

Ayame sighed with exasperation. "I knew it. At times like this, I miss sensei so much. He's always three steps ahead of everyone."

Zenzou smiled. He missed that preppy personality of his father too, as much as he hated to admit it. He used to curse and swear every time he was tasked to look for the Sentai moss. It was a mundane yet difficult task. The moss only grew in winter, so Zenzou had to run outside in the freezing weather to look for it. Also, there was no way to distinguish it from normal moss unless he touched it, making it much harder than it already was.

"Stop diddling down here and let's go get that ingredient. Hopefully, we still have enough to produce one antidote."

Zenzou pointed at the pile of manga on top of his body, as a signal for help.

"I thought it was always your dream to be buried in shounen manga." Said Ayame, trying to pull Zenzou out of the manga book pile.

"Easy, easy! You're ripping off my arms!"

* * *

"There, finally, one antidote." Ayame raised the small vial with the green fluid under the light, as if to savor the moment. Zenzou could not blame her. They spent hours re-reading instruction on how to extract the ingredient (which Zenzou never thought he would have to do again after graduation from the academy), calling Wakikaoru on tips to recover the moss that Zenzou left to dry up and wither (plus endlessly explaining to her why they're both in Zenzou's house wearing pyjamas).

"This much antidote is only enough for one person. Unfortunately, we run out of usable moss." Said Ayame, leaning against the kitchen top with her hand on her hip, eyeing the pile of moss that even Wakikaoru said were hopeless to use. "You always complained how you have to go outside in the freezing cold and touch the disgusting moss. Look at how your effort has gone to waste."

"Yeah, I know." Said Zenzou, looking down at the floor. Part of Ayame felt bad for reprimanding him when she saw him like that. He must be blaming himself as well.

"Well, not all of it, though. At least we still have one antidote." Ayame raised the vial again and smiled at him. There's some sense of pride and achievement in her smile, like when she got her first high score in class or when she got accepted in the Oniwabanshuu. She rarely showed this smile, but whenever he saw it, Zenzou found himself looking away and blushing.

"Well, let's just be careful and try not to get poisoned by him, then." Said Zenzou, still looking away.

Ayame put the vial away into her pocket and yawned. That was their cue to start cleaning up and going to sleep at night.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

_Ayame's eyesight had worsened day by day, and before she realized it, she could not even recognize people in front of her without her glasses anymore. She made many mistakes during missions because of her poor eyesight. One time she mistook her comrade for her enemy, another time she thought the tree was her enemy and tied the rope around the tree. This was going to create a very negative impact on her profile, especially during this period when she was applying for a place in the Oniwabanshuu. She wanted it so badly. It had been her dream ever since she joined the ninja academy. But every year they would only take in the best candidates. She still had a lot to prove to the leader of the Oniwabanshuu, Zenzou's father, that she deserved to be there._

_Today, Ayame's mission was to deliver a scroll containing confidential information in the bakufu, across the woods to the shogun. The mission seemed simple, so Ayame did not really worry about it, until she reached the shogun's castle._

_"What's the meaning of this, Sacchan?" The shogun, Shigeshige, asked._

_"It's the scroll from the bakufu, Shogun-sama."_

_"Hey, are you making a joke out of Shogun-sama?" Shigeshige's bodyguard, standing next to him, scolded._

_"Calm down." The shogun said to his bodyguard. "Sacchan, wear your glasses, will you?"_

_Ayame felt like her heart skipped a beat, and took out the pair of glasses from her chest pocket. What she was holding in her hand, what she thought was the scroll, was actually an S&M magazine that she brought along to read while camping out at night._

_"Oh no! Where is it?" Ayame panicked and frantically looked through her chest pocket but she could only find some dried food and drink that she brought along. _

_"I'm sorry. I think I might have dropped it somewhere. I'm sure I'll be able to find it soon." Ayame found herself fumbling with her words and immediately left the castle._

_Ayame was too embarrassed, she ran straight to the woods without looking back. Only when she went deep inside the woods, when she was sure there's no one else, she stopped to take a breath. This would probably mark a stain in her career that could never fade. Fortunately, the shogun was her childhood friend. Otherwise, she could have been beheaded just for that. After calming down, she adjusted her glasses and looked behind every tree there was in the woods to see where she could have dropped the scroll, but she could not find it anywhere. Before she realized it, the sky was about to darken and little drops of snow started to fall on her hair. She plunged down with desperation._

_"Oh no, what should I do? The shogun is going to kill me." Ayame said to herself._

_"What are you looking for, Sarutobi?" Ayame heard a familiar voice._

_"Zenzou!" Ayame looked up and saw the brown-haired ninja lying on the tree, reading Jump just like usual. "What are you doing here?"_

_"Looking for some stupid moss for my stupid father, but I couldn't find any and decided to just read Jump instead. If you ask me, I think he was just trying to torture me."_

_Ayame did not really understand what he meant, but she couldn't be bothered, because the only thing in her mind right now was the scroll._

_"I'm looking for my scroll. I'm supposed to deliver it to the shogun, but I dropped it somewhere."_

_"Is it a black scroll with a red string tied around it?" Zenzou asked._

_"Yes! Did you see it somewhere?" Ayame almost jumped out of joy._

_"Yeah, but I'm afraid I saw a dog carrying it over that way." Zenzou pointed to the direction far deep inside the woods, where she could not see any light at the other end._

_Ayame's face shriveled from a bright smile into a "Home-Alone" expression._

_"Oh no! You were there. Why didn't you do anything?" Ayame shouted up._

_"Who would have known it was your scroll? Anyway, it is your mission, not mine, isn't it?" Zenzou replied in a calmed demeanor that always annoyed Ayame, especially in these situations._

_Ayame threw a kunai at Zenzou's ass and once again, hit the spot. Zenzou fell down from the tree branch onto the ground._

_"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Zenzou shouted angrily, but Ayame already turned away and ran towards the direction he pointed out earlier. Before she completely turned her face away, Zenzou thought he saw some tears._

* * *

_Ayame ran as fast as she could deep further in the woods, but the snow was falling heavier and heavier until the road in front of her was completely white. It was really hard to run in the snow, so she decided to slow down. Then she realized that she had been on this road once. This road would eventually lead to a very old shrine that had been abandoned for many years._

_"The Sentai Shrine." Ayame mumbled to herself._

_She walked into the shrine, feeling a chill down her spine. Perhaps it was the cold weather. Somehow, the shrine gave her a bad feeling._

_The shrine was made up of a large hall, surrounded by trees and ponds, just like many other Shinto shrines. But weeds were growing all over the place, the large tree roots lodged up the temple's ground, the ponds dried up, only covered in mosses and dirt and snow. After all, nobody had been maintaining it. Ayame was surprised that it could still stand until now._

_"My scroll…" Ayame reminded herself of her purpose to come here and started scrambling around the main hall. It was pitch dark inside._

_ "Aah!" Ayame jumped when the wooden floor cracked and caused her foot to be stuck below the floor. She gave her foot a forceful pull._

_Ayame could not see anything inside the hall so all she could do was touching everything around her. She touched the grounds, the pillars, the wall. Everything was covered in dust and mud. It was especially disgusting to touch the wooden floor, as the wood was already half-eaten by termites, coupled with the humidity, made the wood very soft and mushy._

_After 30 minutes of searching, Ayame still could not find her scroll. She gave out a long sigh and frustratingly punched one of the pillars right next to her. She could hear a crack sound on the pillar. Then, her hand accidentally swung through the altar table and touched something, causing it to fall down on the ground. At first, she thought it was just some tributes or statues on the altar, but she could hear the familiar sound of the scroll when it rolled on the floor. She bent down and felt her hand touching a knot on a string. Before she left for the mission, Ayame made sure she tied a special knot on the string so that she could identify her scroll easily._

This is it! – _Ayame felt like screaming in her head._

_Suddenly, she heard rumbling. The ceilings of the temple's hall cracked, and in just a second, she could feel the sound of a large wooden plank fell down just in front of her. If she were one step further, she would have been smashed flat. She could hear other parts of the shrine, the pillars and the statues, starting to collapse as well. _

_"Where's the entrance?" Ayame frantically looked for just a dim lit of light, but all she heard was loud thud sound._

_After one minute, the rumbling stopped. There was no more thud sound because it seemed like all the wooden planks on the ceilings had fallen down. Yet, Ayame still could not see the light, even the moonlight._

_"Sarutobi…" Ayame jumped when she heard someone calling her name. She gave out a large scream, one that she had been trying to hold back since she entered this creepy shrine._

_"Calm down, Sarutobi, it's me." The voice continued, but this time Ayame managed to recognize the voice. It was definitely of someone she knew._

_"Zenzou?"_

_"Yeah, it's me. What are you doing in this shrine, you idiot?"_

_"I should be asking you that question. Why the heck are you in here?" Ayame was surprised she could not feel his kiai at all._

_"Hey, I just saved you. Is that how you thanked me?"_

_"When did you save me?" Ayame snapped._

_Zenzou gave out a large sigh, frustrated that Ayame did not see he was the one diverting the fallen planks away from her._

_"Anyway, we need to get out of here. Help me remove those logs out." Zenzou said and gave the logs next to him a strong push, but it seemed the logs did not move an inch._

_"Wait, are you saying that we're trapped?" Ayame was still unaware of what was going on._

_"Yes, trapped inside a hole like a mouse."_

_"How big is this hole?"_

_"Probably as big as my toilet."_

_Ayame did not believe Zenzou's words at first, but she could feel the atmosphere around her getting stuffier, and it also explained why she could not see any light at all. She began panicking and ran around pushing the logs desperately. They tried every angle of the space, gave it their strongest push, sometimes they did it alone, sometimes they did it together, but none of those logs gave it away. For the first 20 minutes or so, they did not speak much._

_"It's no use. There's no way these logs will move." Zenzou was the first to break the silence and sat down, giving up trying._

_"The only way is to send a message outside, hoping to get help from others. We can send a clone as an SOS message to sensei immediately." Ayame suggested._

_"Sorry, I did not bring my clones here today."_

_Ayame sighed and continued pushing the logs._

_"Just forget it. You're gonna lose oxygen if you keep doing that." Zenzou said._

_Only then did Ayame realize that she needed to save up her oxygen and energy to survive through until someone came and saved them. She sat down and gave out a strong, annoyed hiss._

_"Fine. I'll rest for a while."_

_Ayame started to feel slightly difficult to breathe. None of them spoke for a while. There was a heavy atmosphere between them._

_"This would never have happened if you had stopped that dog from carrying the scroll all the way here." Ayame said in annoyance after a long and intense silence._

_"From what I recall, it wasn't my mission." Zenzou faintly replied._

_"You should have known that scrolls always contain important information. Isn't that common sense?"_

_"That's none of my business."_

_"Why is it so difficult for you to help others?" Ayame started to get angry. Zenzou had always been criticized by his father, his fellow ninja friends, and most of his clients that he lacked cooperativeness. He always did everything by himself in his missions. Thanks to his great skills, so far, he had been fine living like that._

_"Cats don't do things that don't benefit them." Zenzou replied._

_"You're not a cat. Don't think that you can go through life just by relying on your skills."_

_"You sound just like my old man."_

_Ayame finally understood how frustrating it was to be her sensei, having a stubborn son who thought he's good at everything and would never listen to what his father had to say, be it his lectures in class or his teaching at home._

_"By the way, did anyone know that you're here?" Ayame changed the subject._

_"I doubt it."_

_"So how is it possible that anyone can come here to rescue us? This place is far deep in the woods. The shrine was abandoned many years ago. Nobody would come here anymore." Ayame's patience was about to run out._

_"I don't know. Prayers?" Zenzou replied with a nonchalant voice._

_"Prayers? So now you think prayers are gonna save us?" Ayame snapped._

_Zenzou kept silent._

_"This is stupid. And why the hell did you come here anyway? Isn't it your creed to not care about other people's well-being? It would have been better if it were just me rotting in here." Ayame said, her voice was slightly cracked._

_"Yeah that's right. I never should have come here." Said Zenzou coldly._

_Ayame tried her best to hold her tears but she could no longer do it. Being a ninja, it was almost an unwritten rule that they need to cry privately. Never in her whole life had she ever seen a ninja burst out into tears in front of their friends, be it male or female. Even when a comrade died, she only caught her ninja friends crying if she followed them to a dark corner where they thought they were alone. Naturally, she learned it herself and she was quite good at it. But today, for some reason, tears just flowed out uncontrollably. Maybe it was the scary thought that she's going to die in a hole, maybe it was the thought that she was a failure who didn't deserve a place in the Oniwabanshuu, maybe it was the hormone, Ayame wasn't sure._

_The thing about crying privately, it was the sound of crying that was harder to hide, not the tears. In the pitch black, Zenzou probably could not see her cry, but there was nothing she could do to stop him from hearing her sniffling. Not to mention, the deafening silence of the abandoned shrine made it even more apparent._

_Zenzou started to find himself fumbling on words. "Hey, hey, don't you cry on me now…" His heart was thumping and he was sweating lightly. "Come on… Sarutobi Ayame, crying? That's so out of character."_

_"Shut up, you idiot!" Even when she cried, her feisty nature still came out._

_But Zenzou couldn't keep quiet, although he didn't quite know what to say, so he just found himself rambling._

_"I'm sorry for not helping you with the scroll… I really didn't know it was yours and you know me… I'm always very selfish and I usually didn't care for…"_

_"I wasn't mad at you." Ayame interrupted. "I was mad at myself. I worked so hard to get into the Oniwabanshuu, but… my eyes… because of my poor eyesight… I kept making mistakes…"_

_Zenzou now fell silent. Rather, he couldn't relate to what she was saying. He was always a natural genius ninja. He mastered everything on his first try and only had to spend a fraction of other people's effort to get the same result. He never understood what it felt like to be a failure._

_Besides, he didn't know that deep inside Ayame's usual stone-cold face, stood a vulnerable girl who worried that she might not be good enough. Hell, she was considered one of the best students by his old man. Who would have thought that she also had insecure moments like this?_

_"Sarutobi…" Zenzou shifted and gently sat next to Ayame. "If it weren't for your poor eyesight, you wouldn't have developed such keen instincts to become the strongest kunoichi in the ninja academy, right?"_

_"Strongest kunoichi…?" Asked Ayame in surprise. She never heard that title being thrusted on her before._

_"Remember the first time we fought and you hit my backside even without your glasses? I graduated top of my class and you were the only ninja who I considered my equal. So, doesn't that make you the strongest kunoichi?"_

_Upon the memory of her first encounter with Zenzou, Ayame's insecurity quickly vanished and her inflated ego just popped back into existence. She threw away her napkin and put her hands on her hips._

_"That match wasn't an equal. You lost."_

_"No, I didn't. I was careless."_

_After a short pause, they both burst out laughing at how childish they're acting._

_"That's more like you." Said Zenzou, after hearing her laugh._

_"Thank you, Zenzou…" Ayame tapped on his shoulder._

* * *

_Zenzou woke up and still found himself in the pitch of darkness. In the first minute, he still thought he was in dreamland. When he adjusted his position, he could feel something leaning onto his right arm. He turned to his right and smelled the shampoo scent on Ayame's hair. At some point during her slumber, she had found his right arm a very comfortable pillow and happily placed her head on it. He gave out a sigh, not out of exasperation, but rather relief._

_Crack!_

_Zenzou felt a crack sound right beneath him. The wooden floor probably reached its limit with 2 people's weight on it. If either of them moved, the floor would collapse any minute._

_"Oh gosh, that's right!" Zenzou exclaimed loudly._

_"Huh? What is it?" Ayame woke up and scratched her hair._

_"The floor below. That's our escape. We can break through the wooden floor and dig our way out of here. Why didn't we think of this before?"_

_Then, they followed their plan and got out of the hole after thirty minutes of digging. By the time they got out, their faces and hands and legs were all covered in dirt, but they could never be happier. They slowly walked on the snowy road, talked and laughed like they used to when they were kids._

_"Sarutobi…" Suddenly, Zenzou's voice turned serious in the middle of the light-hearted conversation. He handed out her glasses._

_"What?"_

_Zenzou gazed down his hand but Ayame didn't follow it._

Oh, that's right! She couldn't see a thing. _– Zenzou sighed and shook his head._

_He gently placed the glasses on her eyes. Everything in Ayame's eyes suddenly turned from a chunk of blur to Zenzou's up-close face. She had to move her head backward because she never saw him this close._

_"Don't drop your glasses again. You'll be fine." Said Zenzou._

_Ayame smiled to herself. Part of her felt embarrassed for letting Zenzou see her raw self and insecurity, but somehow, she couldn't stop smiling._

_"I got something for you too, Zenzou."_

_He turned around, looking curious. Ayame opened her chest pocket to give Zenzou… a handful of dirt? He wasn't sure if this was her form of a joke, but he didn't get it, so he turned back and continued walking. "Thank you for your gift."_

_"This is the moss, you idiot. The one that your father asked you to find."_

_"What? How did you…?"_

_"By paying attention in class, of course." Mocked Ayame. "This moss only grew where there was little or no sunlight and in cold, extremely moist condition. That tunnel that we just dug had plenty of them. In fact, that whole shrine was covered with this moss, that's why they call it the Sentai Shrine. It is rumored that the moss even grew in summer here."_

_Now, it's Zenzou's turn to smile. "You're such a nerd."_

_They both looked at each other and smiled proudly, knowing that this moment had immensely deepened their bond._


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Ayame woke up in the middle of the night, sweating profusely. It could only be one thing that woke her up in her sleep: danger. She closed her eyes to muster her concentration.

_Two of them… _Ayame could feel the presence of two assassins near the house.

She quietly opened the door and went down to the staircase to find Zenzou. Before she could enter the living room, somebody was covering her mouth and pulling her back.

"Shh! It's me, Zenzou." He whispered in her ears before she could use the kunai to cut his throat.

"I feel the presence…"

"I know." He interrupted her sentence so that she would keep quiet. "The living room has traps. They're going to ambush us in the living room." Said Zenzou with a serious expression and a kunai ready in his hand.

"What? When did they…" Ayame almost exclaimed in her whisper but Zenzou covered her mouth.

"They're out at the garden, just outside the living room. They're waiting for us to enter the room and strike. Let's go out by the back door. Try to hide your kiai." Zenzou pointed towards the kitchen. Ayame figured she should take care of the ninja assassins first and followed his instruction.

Zenzou and Ayame quietly moved to the kitchen, just like a cat. There was absolutely no sound in their movement, even when Zenzou was unlocking the kitchen's back door. Before he opened the door, he gestured Ayame to go to the garden and she nodded. They had become very fluent at ninja sign languages that they did not need to talk to communicate.

In the blink of an eye, they moved to the garden without letting the other two assassins aware of it. The two assassins were still ambushing outside the living room when they suddenly felt a cold metal pressed against their throat. Both Zenzou and Ayame caught the two assassins at the same time. None of them had the time to react.

"How did you…" One of them managed to mumble before having their throat slit.

"Nice work." Ayame gave Zenzou a thumb up. Zenzou did not say anything, but still stared at the two assassins with a slight cynicism.

"When did they manage to set up the traps in your house? We literally stay here 24/7." Asked Ayame.

"I don't know. Most probably when we were at the warehouse this afternoon." Zenzou said while wiping the blood on the kunai with his handkerchief.

"How come we couldn't feel any presence at all?"

"Maybe because the warehouse is too far. Although being part of my house, it is on the other side of the compound. It takes us 15 minutes walk over there."

"First world problem, huh? Living in a big apartment complex until you can't even feel the enemy's presence in your own home." Mocked Ayame. "If your father were still alive, he would make us run 30 rounds of the compound for this stupidity."

"Yeah, he probably would." Smirked Zenzou.

"Oh no!" Zenzou exclaimed when he felt a kiai entering the living room. It was Koyuki. "Mother!"

Ayame was already at the back door when she heard Zenzou's call and at the same time, saw a figure wearing a yukata sliding the entrance door, and she immediately knew what she had to do.

"NO! Don't come in!" She shouted towards Koyuki, and heard a snap sound like a trap being activated. Instinctively, she jumped to push Koyuki away from the danger zone. All she could hear after that is a large collapse sound and she could feel the whole living room floor rumbling. She turned around and saw a large boulder right next to her. If it were not for Ayame, Koyuki would have been squashed under that boulder.

"Oh my…" Koyuki was terrified and could only mumble a few words.

Before Ayame could stand up, she saw some metal light reflection right above her head. She only had enough time to take out one kunai out of her pocket. Thanks to her agility and with Zenzou's help, she managed to deflect all of them.

"Are you alright, Hattori-san?" Asked Ayame.

Koyuki nodded, her eyes were filled with fear and confusion. "Thank you, Sacchan…"

Suddenly, Ayame felt a terrible aura from outside the living room, one that was much more dangerous than any opponents she had ever encountered.

"Murakami…" Ayame mumbled and Zenzou nodded.

"Hattori-san…" Koyuki heard a whisper from the female ninja. "The corridor to outside had been filled with traps. Please run upstairs into Zenzou's room and lock the door." Said Ayame.

Koyuki worriedly glared at the corridor which led to the main door. It still looked as normal as every day, but Ayame said it was filled with traps? She had heard of ninja traps before but she never thought they would be so well hidden. Still confused at what clue Ayame took to find out there were traps in the corridor, Koyuki blankly stood there for a while until Ayame gave her a light body push. She quietly followed Ayame's instruction without any further questions.

"Long time no see, Hattori and Sarutobi." Under the dim light of the moon and with his face hidden under the straw hat, Ayame could not see Murakami's features clearly, but hearing his voice with the distinct accent alone brought back the memories.

"You know, ninja normally don't do revenge, but I can understand why you would go through all the trouble to get back at us, Murakami." Zenzou smirked.

"You thought I came here for revenge?" Murakami chuckled. "How sadly mistaken."

"Oh? After what Sarutobi did to you, it's a pretty logical conclusion." There was some sort of satisfaction on Zenzou's tone.

"You're back to the bakufu again." Ayame explained purely from speculation, but made it sound convincing like she knew it as a fact. "Since the whole bakufu had changed from last time, our team unit was the only threat left."

"Oh, our little Sarutobi had grown wiser, it seems." Murakami cracked an evil grin that could be seen even when his whole face was completely darkened.

"Sarutobi, be careful. That's his shadow clone. He's somewhere else." Warned Zenzou.

Ayame nervously clutched onto her kunai. Normally, she would rely on sounds to scout for the enemy's movements, but with Murakami, it's almost impossible to use the same technique. He really lived up to his name, the Silent Death God.

A smoke bomb dropped from above. Zenzou's figure slowly faded into the grey color of the smoke and Ayame could feel both her feet shaking. Though knowing Zenzou was still somewhere in the room, probably just a few steps away from her, not being able to see him was acutely terrifying.

_When you're fighting without a sense of sight or sound, what can you do?_

Ayame readied the kunai in her hands and hurled them upwards. The smoke cloud quickly enshrouded the kunai, but Ayame could hear the familiar sound of a kunai digging itself into flesh. Immediately, she tossed a rope towards the direction of the kunai and expertly swung her body onto a wooden bar close to the ceiling. In a minute, her target had been tied up (rather bonded) in the air. She used a bat to strike him and ensured he was not a shadow clone.

"Got you." Ayame's eyes beamed.

The smoke cloud slowly faded. Zenzou approached Ayame who was eyeing upwards at Murakami.

"How did you manage to spot his location?" Asked Zenzou.

"I took the liberty of spreading some natto at your garden. This idiot had been moving around with natto smell on his feet."

Zenzou widened his eyes. He wasn't sure whether he should be impressed at her tactic or annoyed that she's treating his house like her own. "Thanks for turning my garden into a dumpster."

"Hey, it worked!" She pushed Zenzou's shoulder and unexpectedly felt him grabbing her arm.

"Sarutobi…" Ayame saw Zenzou looking down. For a moment she thought he was angry at her, but upon closer look, there was fear in his eyes. She looked down at her arm and saw a white spider tightly grasping onto the flesh in her elbow joint. Only then, she felt a slight pinch and hastily removed the spider. It seemed too late though. The bite wound was gaping open and staring right back at her.

Just a moment later, the pain permeated from her arm to her whole body, dropping her down to one knee.

"Sarutobi!"

Ayame could feel her breath starting to get labored. Her hands and feet were trembling. Zenzou's concerned voice calling out for her name also started to sound muffled. The effect of the poison was lightning fast.

Another batch of kunai flew towards them. Zenzou swiftly raised the tatami mat under his living room floor to block the attack.

"What? Where did they come from? Did he escape?" Ayame looked towards Murakami's direction. The rope had been cut off.

"That didn't look like a clean cut." Said Zenzou. "He must have gotten his spiders to chew off the rope. I have heard of his capability before but to experience it first-hand…"

Another smoke bomb was tossed at them and detonated, causing Ayame to cough violently and further struggling to breathe. Zenzou gently rubbed her back.

"Sarutobi… I'm distracting him for now. Do what you have to do."

That was probably Zenzou's code of instruction for "Take the antidote". He couldn't say it out loud because if Murakami knew they had an antidote, he would make sure to give Ayame another dose of poison. He then disappeared into the smoke cloud.

Ayame searched her chest pocket for the vial by touch. It took her quite some time to dig out a tiny vial from a stash of food ration, medicines, spare glasses, kunai, things she usually brought on her missions.

Finally, she managed to feel an oval object. Under the dim moonlight, she saw sliver of green fluid from the antidote and breathed a sigh of relief.

However, she suddenly heard a grunt sound, as if somebody had got hit. She felt her heart racing and prayed that it wasn't Zenzou. As the smoke started to get thinner, she saw two shadows, one with the straw hat and another without, and the latter's shadow quickly collapsed onto the ground. She immediately knew the fight was over.

"Zenzou! Zenzou!"

"Hmm, as expected of Hattori Zenzou." Said Murakami and dropped down to his knee a few seconds later as well. There was a short katana pierced through his belly, though it didn't seem to hit his vital organ. It seemed that both Zenzou and Murakami managed to land a strike at each other.

"Too bad for him though. I injected the Byakumo poison into his central nervous system, and the poison is going to his brain right now. He's gonna die in another hour." Said Murakami.

With all her strength, Ayame crawled towards the collapsed Zenzou, not caring about Murakami or what he's going to do to her. The living room never felt as big as she took painful little nudges to get herself closer to Zenzou.

Ayame raised her trembling hand to pull the needle out of his neck. That was the most she could do, but the poison was already inside his system.

"Zenzou…" Ayame whispered inaudibly. His eyes were still open but his stare was dull and blank, as if he was frozen. She felt her eyes tearing.

She lay down next to him, inches away from his face, with her hands on his cheeks and staring longingly at him.

"Goodbye, Zenzou."

As soon as she finished the sentence, Ayame closed the gap between their faces, placing her lips against his. Unbeknownst to her, under those soulless eyes, Zenzou was still aware of what was happening. He wanted to move. He wanted to stand up and kill Murakami. He wanted to tell Ayame that he was still alive, but his body would not listen to him.

Before Zenzou's eyelids had gotten heavier and shut down completely, Zenzou saw Ayame staggering to stand on both her feet and faced Murakami head-on.

_Please run, Sarutobi!_


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Zen-chan… Zen-chan!" A familiar voice echoed.

"Zen-chan, he's awake! I'm so glad!" The same voice was raised again, almost cracked out of tears.

"He survives hemorrhoid. He would survive poison, aru."

_Huh? How is hemorrhoid even comparable to getting poisoned? Who is the idiot who said that? And what's that annoying "aru" at the end of the sentence?_

"I brought him a copy of Jump just in case he feels lonely in the hospital." He knew this voice. He definitely knew it.

"Gin-san, you took it from his room, didn't you?" A younger voice sounded.

When Zenzou fully opened his eyes, he saw his mom and the three noisy Yorozuya next to his bed side.

"Mom? Yorozuya?" Zenzou asked weakly, feeling his head aching due to the strong hospital fluorescent lights.

"Zen-chan!" His mom hugged him so strong that he felt suffocated.

Zenzou tried to sit up, but the moment he tilted his head, he felt a sharp shoot of pain like his head was split in two. He let out a small cry of pain and buried his face in his hands.

"Easy, easy. Don't try to sit up, Zen-chan." Said Koyuki while rubbing his shoulders.

The pain seemed to have awakened some of Zenzou's memories. He suddenly remembered the fight he had with the 2 assassins, Murakami, the poison, Ayame's last words and… her kiss. Although his whole body was numb at the time, he was glad he could still feel the tenderness of her lips.

"Sarutobi…" He murmured.

Koyuki gave him a sad look and placed her hand on his shoulder gently. "I know you're worried, Zen-chan. We will find her soon."

"Yorozuya, why are you guys here?"

The three Yorozuya kept silence and exchanged glances for a moment. Kagura nudged Gintoki and Gintoki nudged Shinpachi. Nobody wanted to talk.

"Look, Yorozuya, just talk. Right now, I just need to know where Sarutobi is."

"Gin-san did it!" Right after Zenzou gave a leeway, Shinpachi immediately pointed towards Gintoki.

"It was Gin-chan!" At the same time, Kagura also pointed the same direction.

Zenzou slightly raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"Yesterday, Gin-san was planning to sneak into your room again…" Shinpachi started.

"You don't have to start the story with that, you know." Gintoki scolded.

"But when we went into your house and your living room, we saw you lying on the floor like you were already dead. So, we rushed you to the hospital." Shinpachi continued the rest of the story.

"What about Sarutobi?"

Shinpachi shook his head. "No signs of her or the person you guys fought with."

Zenzou clenched his teeth. "Where did she run off to?"

The room door clicked open and an experienced-looking doctor came in with a chart on his hand.

"Hattori-san, I see you're awake."

"Is he going to be okay, doctor?" Asked Koyuki eagerly.

"Yes, he's going to be alright. He was injected with one of the rarest poisons I've ever seen. If you hadn't quickly taken the antidote, we wouldn't have been able to save you either."

_What? I didn't take any antidote? – _Zenzou got confused. Then flashback of Ayame's kiss and her last words flooded Zenzou's mind once again.

_No, it couldn't be that…_

Zenzou slammed his fist against the bed loudly, startling everyone in the room.

"Zen-chan…"

"What's wrong, Zenzou-san?" Asked Shinpachi. But Zenzou didn't answer and avoided everyone's gaze.

Gintoki knew that look. It was the look of a man feeling helpless and weak that he couldn't protect what's important to him.

"Let's go, Shinpachi, Kagura. We may be able to find some stuff she left in our house for Sadaharu to sniff and trace her out." Said Gintoki as he stood up.

"I'm coming along." Zenzou set his blanket to one side and climbed down from the bed, wobbly.

"No, you're not ready to move around." Said the doctor with a stern voice.

"Murakami is very dangerous. If anything were to happen..."

"Look at yourself." Gintoki raised his voice. "You couldn't even stand on your feet. What can you do when you face him?" He threw the Jump magazine towards Zenzou. "You're better off resting and reading Jump than putting yourself into unnecessary danger."

"Don't worry, Zenzou-san. Just leave this to the Yorozuya." Said Shinpachi on the door step.

"Sacchan is our friend too. We will not let anyone harm her." Kagura added and finally closed the door.

Zenzou sighed and climbed back to bed. After the Yorozuya and the doctor had left, Koyuki quietly watched Zenzou turning his back against her as if he was sulking.

"So… assassin, huh?" Koyuki spoke after a long intense silence.

"I'm sorry we lied to you… Me and Sarutobi were just pretending to be together so we wouldn't have to tell you about Murakami."

"I knew that all along." Koyuki giggled. "I knew it the moment she told me. You ninja think that you're so smart and could lie your way through, but you could not fool me."

Another bout of silence followed.

"But Zen-chan, why can't it come true?"

Zenzou gave out a long sigh. "We're assassins. Our line of work doesn't have space for love. Love just makes us irrational and blind." He could still hear his old man's annoying voice preaching that same old philosophy.

"But being able to love someone is one of the greatest gifts we have in life. It's a shame to deny that gift." Said Koyuki.

Zenzou wondered how his old man would have reacted to that if he were here.

"Mom…" Zenzou spoke softly. "I'm suddenly craving for some yakisoba. Would you buy me some?"

"Sure."

Koyuki walked out of the room, leaning against the corridor wall and sighed. "Just as I thought, ninja are bad liars."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

_Ayame dropped to one knee as a sign of respect to her boss, Matsudaira, along with Zenzou and 3 other ninja. He never asked for such formal gestures from them, but it was a habit from the Oniwabanshuu that never disappeared._

_"This was already confirmed, boss. Murakami would come visit the pleasure house tonight with his bakufu officials." She said while pulling down her ninja mask._

_"Okay, good job, Sacchan. What about the arrangement we talked about?"_

_"Yes, I've also set it up with the boss over there. He will allow 2 members of our team to infiltrate the pleasure house tonight."_

_"Okay, then. The next thing to settle is, who will do the infiltration. Without question, Zenzou should be one of them. You will disguise as one of the guests in the pleasure house. Be careful not to let Murakami see you. He may recognize you as the leader of the Oniwabanshuu."_

_"Yes, sir!" Zenzou replied enthusiastically._

_"And the second one is Sacchan. You will disguise as one of the escorts to be assigned to Murakami. The rest of you will wait outside the pleasure house for instruction from either Zenzou or me."_

_"Yes, sir!" All of them replied in synchronicity._

* * *

_Ayame was told to wait along with the other escorts in a line for Murakami's arrival. To ensure that he would pick Ayame, she was put together with the fugly escorts so she could stand out. Ironically, fugly is exactly Zenzou's type, so he enjoyed himself a little too much on his table. _

He didn't even comment on my appearance when I dressed up like this. – _Ayame sulked. Admittedly, she and Zenzou had been nothing more than colleagues, but a few compliments from him would have been nice. Being looked over for some fugly chicks hurt her ego a little._

_But the stress of the mission made that problem minuscule in comparison. The longer she waited, the more her fight-or-flight response became active and soon, Ayame was unconsciously fidgeting with her fingers and slightly shivering._

_"Hey, are you Ayako?" One of the escorts approached Ayame._

_"Uh, yes, I am." Ayame said with some hesitation, almost forgetting her disguise name._

_"That gentleman over there would like to speak to you for a while." She pointed at Zenzou's table, where he was eyeing her despite having two girls on both of his arms._

_"Tell him that even money could not buy me. I'm reserved only for the high ranking bakufu official." Ayame pushed her glasses arrogantly, part of her felt strangely satisfied that she could somehow get back at Zenzou for overlooking her._

_"Yes, I did tell him that, but he said he wouldn't do anything. He just wanted to speak to you for a minute."_

_Ayame finally relented and walked towards Zenzou's table. The escorts sitting near Zenzou made space for Ayame to come in._

_"May I help you, dear customer?" Asked Ayame while at the same time mouthing inaudibly to Zenzou: What the heck are you doing?_

_"Nothing, miss. I'm just too captivated by your beauty that I want to give you this." Zenzou took out a shiny flower hairpin from his bag. "Here, allow me."_

_He turned her shoulders around and gently placed the hairpin on her bun. All this time, Ayame thought he was clueless with women's accessories._

_"Thank you.." Ayame coyly smiled with her rosy cheeks. It was both weird and funny to be this demure in front of the guy she frequently bullied._

_After Ayame walked back to her waiting line, the fugly escorts teasingly sulked to Zenzou. "Hey, didn't you just say you only have eyes for us? It seems you're just like other men, going for the most beautiful woman in the room."_

_"No, no, all women are beautiful in their own way." Replied Zenzou and continued the upbeat conversation with his crowd. Ayame, on the other hand, noticed she had stopped shivering and started feeling flustered instead._

* * *

_"Although we got the confession out of Murakami, he escaped and the mission was denounced as a failure." Said Zenzou._

_Matsudaira blew out a whiff of smoke and solemnly looked at the beautiful Japanese garden in his house._

_"Hmm, this Sacchan. I already gave her the instruction not to act on her own. She was supposed to wait for your support, not cut off his manhood with a hairpin and let him escape."_

_Zenzou shuddered every time he recalled that moment when he opened the door to Murakami's suite and saw him with his bloody crotch. He did not think that small hairpin could cause serious damage to Murakami, but he forgot how dangerous the kunoichi could be. _

_"Her action was out of self-defense. He tried to force himself on her."_

_"Zenzou, you should know that the higher-ups don't care about these details. All they know was that the mission failed and they're looking for a scapegoat to push the blame." Matsudaira pressed the cigarette butt into the ashtray and took another piece out of his pocket. "By the way, did she cut it all off or just the…?"_

_"Is that really the question to be asked?" Zenzou scolded._

_"Hey, the higher-ups may care about this particular detail, you know."_

_"What kind of higher-ups are you dealing with?" Sometimes, he wondered why this goofy old man could be the Chief of Police. "Anyway, what will be the punishment then?"_

_"First and foremost, she will have to pay for the total consideration of the mission, which believe me, is no small feat."_

_Zenzou looked up anxiously. "She's got no such kind of money. She's only been in the profession for a few years." _

_"Yes, I'm aware of that. That's why I'm still not sure how to break this news to her."_

_After a moment of silence, Zenzou continued. "I can pay for it though. She doesn't have to know."_

_"Hmm? You sure? I know your family is wealthy but it's still a lot of money. Maybe you want to discuss this with your father first." Matsudaira lowered his voice and eyed down on Zenzou._

_"If it's Sarutobi, my old man wouldn't mind."_

_"Still, I thought you're not the buddy-buddy type."_

_Zenzou was half-way opening his mouth to say something, but he stopped and just stared down at his teacup. Matsudaira caught glimpse of that and just snickered. He knew he had hit a nerve._

_"Zenzou, let me ask you this. Why did you give her that hairpin? It was completely unnecessary."_

_"She was nervous and I thought it would be better if…"_

_"And you indirectly ruined the mission. If you hadn't given her that hairpin, this mission probably would've succeeded." Matsudaira was slightly raising his tone._

_"Then, wouldn't it make more sense that I paid for the fine, since you practically said it's my fault?"_

_Matsudaira sighed. "Fine. If that's what you want. But I'll still have to give her some forms of punishment as a cover. This is a very high__-ranking __mission. She'll get suspicious if she gets away scot-free." _

_Zenzou was already giving his full attention to wait for what the punishment would be._

_"She needs to clean the Shinsengumi premise toilet, for a month!"_

Seriously? That's your punishment, old man? You don't think that's even more suspicious? – _Thought Zenzou._

_"Yes." Matsudaira grinned evilly. "It's not an easy job, trust me."_

_"Fine. I'll inform her accordingly." Zenzou bowed his head to excuse himself._

_"One more thing, Zenzou." Said Matsudaira when Zenzou was almost out of the room. "I suggest you two work separately from now on."_

_Zenzou continued walking without reply._

* * *

_Ayame arrived just in time for the Oniwabanshuu's monthly meeting. Luckily Zenzou had the habit of showing up late, so she didn't miss anything important. When she slid the door open and walked to the front of the room, most of the members were there and they all stared at her. She definitely became famous after the Murakami incident._

_"Hey, hey, Saru-chan, I thought you were an M but it turned out you could switch to an S so easily." Wakikaoru playfully blew a kiss._

_"Shut up. Do you want me to go all S on you?" Said Ayame with an emotionless face._

_"No, thanks. I'm more a traditional type of girl."_

_From behind, Gou, one of the ninja in the Oniwabanshuu, interfered in the conversation. "By the way, Sacchan, I heard you have to clean the Shinsengumi toilet as a punishment?"_

_Ayame rolled her eyes and shook her head in disgust. "I've never seen a dirtier toilet in my life. And that was already through one round of toilet revolution."_

_"You should consider yourself lucky, though. Normally those high-ranking missions come with a huge failure fine which can easily bankrupt…" Said Gou, stopping mid-sentence when he felt something pinched his arm._

_"Hey, Zenzou's here. Let's go back to our seat." Wakikaoru pulled Gou far away from Ayame after seeing her boss coming in._

_"Psst, don't talk to her about the fine." She whispered in an almost inaudible register. "I heard from one of Matsudaira's guards that Zenzou paid off the fine for her, but he didn't want her to know."_

_"What?" Gou exclaimed loudly. Some of the ninja sitting nearby turned around and gave them an annoyed look, while Wakikaoru covered his mouth with her hand._

_"Don't talk so loud. It was supposed to be a secret."_

_"I didn't know boss could be so altruistic." Said Gou. As hard as it was for Gou to believe, he knew better than to doubt Wakikaoru. She is one of the biggest gossip girls in the Oniwabanshuu, but that also meant she usually got the most accurate and confidential information. _

_"Oh, he's not, trust me." Wakikaoru laughed sarcastically. "But he got a soft spot for her."_

_Gou now turned his eyes towards Ayame. "Sacchan? I thought he only likes fugly chicks."_

_"I don't know. Maybe he thinks she's ugly? I also think she's not that pretty anyway." Wakikaoru shrugged her shoulders, adding a few spiteful comments that Gou knew for sure was out of the catty rivalry between them._

_"I'd like to make some announcements to the Oniwabanshuu arrangement." Said Zenzou, with a piece of paper in his hand. "As some of you may already know, Oniwabanshuu will soon have a sub-unit specialized in high-ranking assassination named Shimatsuya. We have already chosen a few best candidates for the team, and that means they will no longer work under me, but will take orders directly from either Matsudaira or the bakufu. I will now read the names of the chosen candidates."_

_Everyone silently waited, some with eagerness, some with anxiety. _

_"Saiki Yoshiro, Nakazawa Shigeo, Hirai Arata…" Names after names were slowly called up, giving the chosen one a brief moment of attention._

_"Sarutobi Ayame." Ayame looked up with surprise when her name was called and noticed she also received that brief spotlight. Some even gave her a thumbs up as a congratulatory gesture. Yet, Ayame wasn't sure how she should feel about this._

_When the meeting came to an end and the crowd had slowly dispersed, she approached Zenzou who was hastily packing his bag to avoid her, but he was too late._

_"Why did I get picked for the Shimatsuya team? Didn't I just fail one of the biggest assassination missions in the Oniwabanshuu?" Asked Ayame._

_"I don't know. It wasn't my decision. Maybe because you had a good tracking record." Replied Zenzou without looking back at Ayame._

_"I've __on__ly participated in two assassination missions since I first joined, one was a failure. I can't believe any bakufu official or Matsudaira would pick me after the Murakami incident. It must be you who made this decision."_

_"Why are you complaining? It's an honor to be chosen and assassination can earn a lot of money."_

_"I'm not, but… you've been distant since that mission… Are you… are you doing this to get rid of me?" Ayame now looked down on the floor with her hand slightly pulling the helm of his coat._

_"Don't be ridiculous. I just thought you would do well in Shimatsuya, that's all." Zenzou scratched his hair, picked up his bag and walked out of the room without much of a goodbye._

_"What a bad liar…" Ayame whispered._


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Zenzou could feel his grip onto the walking stick getting heavier, as the stick dug deeper into the ground. He stopped to catch his breath, maybe for the fifth time. Though, every time he did, a voice in his head nagged him to 'hurry up or else Sarutobi would not have much time'. So, he continued to walk.

"Hemorrhoid ninja!" Zenzou heard a childish voice calling his name from behind. He turned around and saw the Yorozuya with their large dog, Sadaharu, walking in the same direction as him.

"Yorozuya?"

"What are you doing here, you idiot?" Gintoki shouted from a distance.

"I should be asking you that question. Aren't you supposed to be looking for Sarutobi?" Zenzou raised his voice back to Gintoki.

"We are. Sadaharu leads us here." Shinpachi explained calmly. "What are you doing here, Zenzou-san?"

"The antidote for the poison that Murakami gave Sarutobi could be found in this area, in an abandoned shrine called the Sentai Shrine." It was amazing how he couldn't remember this knowledge when it was taught in the ninja academy countless times, but just one time mentioned by Ayame, it stuck with his memory until now.

"Perhaps she is also coming here to look for it herself." Said Shinpachi.

"Murakami may be following her here too." Zenzou was glad he brought in some extra kunai in case he had to fight.

"Oi, go home. You're not in a good state to fight anyone." Gintoki used his bokken to tap on Zenzou's head. "Apply your stupid cat philosophy or whatever. This is not the time to be a hero."

"Who said I wanted to be a hero?" Said Zenzou, continued walking but still heavily leaning on the stick for support. "I just come here to get away from my nagging mother."

"Give it up, Gin-san. There's no point stopping him now. He's a stubborn mule just like you." Said Shinpachi.

"What stubborn mule? Geez, kids nowadays. You raise them up and all they do was just argue back at you." Gintoki scolded.

"My father raised me up! Stop talking like you've already had kids!"

"Quiet!" Zenzou raised his voice to silence the bickering noise behind him. "I sensed Murakami."

Everyone stayed quiet, scouting for any sound or movement they can detect. Unconsciously, they started to move closer and face their backs towards one another. That way, the enemy had a lower chance of sneaking behind them.

But that was a normal enemy.

"Behind!" Gintoki shouted and grabbed Shinpachi to move further away from their current position. Kagura also quickly reacted and jumped onto Sadaharu's back. Zenzou, despite being weak from the poison's side effect, managed to move and shoot a kunai back at the enemy. He dropped his walking stick and got into his fighting stance. His body would probably kill him later for pushing it to the limit, but now he needed it at full function.

"Hattori… You've somehow survived." Said Murakami, with a syringe in his hand.

"Careful, everyone. If you just happen to get a scratch from that syringe, you're as good as dead." Warned Zenzou.

Everyone nodded nervously. After a long pause, Gintoki was the first one to charge in with his bokken. Kagura, now on Sadaharu's back, took opportunity of the situation and led the dog deeper into the forest, presumably to find Ayame.

However, not long after, Kagura's scream caught everyone's attention. When Zenzou looked over, Kagura, Sadaharu and Kagura's umbrella had been caught in a gigantic white spider web that blocked the way towards the shrine.

"Damn it!" Zenzou mumbled to himself and looked at Shinpachi. Both of them nodded at each other and ran towards Kagura.

"Glasses, catch!" Said Zenzou as he tossed a kunai to Shinpachi. "This spider web can heal itself very quickly and the moment you touch it, it can absorb you in as well. Be careful."

"I got it, Zenzou-san. Please go assist Gin-san. I can take care of Kagura-chan." Said Shinpachi.

"Alright, I'll leave it to you." Zenzou ran back towards Gintoki, who was still at a stalemate with his bokken clashed against Murakami's katana. Neither seemed ready to let go of their grip. Then, a grin appeared on Gintoki's face and from below, he made a forceful kick on Murakami's groin.

"Never let your jewel so wide open like that, sucker!" Gintoki gleefully taunted his opponent, but soon noticed that his stalemate situation had not gotten favorable. Murakami still looked calm as ever.

"Huh? How come you don't feel any pain?" Gintoki turned to Zenzou, who was now covering his face with his hand. "Oi, is this some sort of ninjutsu?"

"Idiot! What kind of ninjutsu makes you lose your own jewel?" Scolded Zenzou while throwing a kunai towards Murakami and Gintoki. They both moved away swiftly.

"You cannot stay too close to him. He may drop a venomous spider on you before you can even realize it." Said Zenzou.

"Tch, what a bother!" Gintoki readied his bokken at his waist to strike again.

"Hey, stay back. This type of long range combat is not suitable for you samurai. It's our forte." Saying those words somehow pumped some adrenaline through his veins that numbed up the body pain that he was supposed to feel.

Zenzou made a high jump and rained down hundreds of kunai from above towards Murakami, indistinguishably hitting the ground and turning it into a spike trap. Murakami calmly used his katana to deflect the attack, but was surprised by Zenzou flying past him, leaving a fresh wound on his left shoulder.

"Impressive. That's Marishiten Hattori Zenzou for you." Murakami clutched his injured shoulder. "However, your fate ends here."

Murakami made some hand seals to summon his technique. Swarms of white spiders crawled out from the tree leaves, momentarily turning the whole forest from green to white.

"This is freaky!" Gintoki started to feel goosebumps making its way to his neck. On his third running step, he was suddenly jerked backwards. He turned around and saw a long chain wrapped around his torso, with Zenzou holding the long end of it.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" Shouted Gintoki.

"Sorry, Jump samurai." Zenzou ran through the forest with his renowned lightning speed, dragging Gintoki on the chain. Sounds of Gintoki groaning and cursing at Zenzou could be heard from behind but was partially drowned by the ruffling sound as he stepped on the leaves. More and more spiders were dropping from the trees and coming closer to the him. Finally, he gave a strong swing, utilizing the running momentum and hurling Gintoki towards Kagura, who was still stuck at the giant spider web.

"I'll kill you after this, hemorrhoid ninjaaaaaaaaa!" Gintoki's voice faded out as he flew further away. His body hit Kagura like a cannonball, cutting right through the spider web.

Zenzou turned around to face the thousands of spiders eager to eat him alive. He inhaled deeply, as if to earn himself some courage. He tossed a bomb up in the air, letting it detonate and take away a chunk of the spiders.

"I got more coming. Are you gonna kill them all?" Murakami chuckled.

After a few bomb detonation, kunai and shuriken were seen flying towards all direction. He also took off his long coat and fanned it upwards to wipe out the approaching spiders. Murakami stood still watching and was genuinely amused by Zenzou's struggle against the spider army with whatever weapons he had left. Finally, Zenzou detonated a smoke bomb, disappearing into the cloud.

"Where are you gonna hide? The whole forest is covered with my spiders." Said Murakami.

Another rain of kunai flew upwards from underground where Murakami was standing, some managed to injure his back. He had no choice but to jump away from his position.

"Below, huh?" Murakami made another hand seal. Within minutes, Zenzou jumped out from underground to get away in vain from the swarm of aggressive spiders now covering most of his body.

"I can summon my spiders from underground as well." Murakami coldly stared down at Zenzou, who was screaming and reaching his hand out hopelessly, almost like watching an army of ants devouring their food. "With this amount of spiders, no antidotes could save you now. Goodbye, Hattori Zenzou."

Only when Zenzou stopped moving then Murakami dropped down on his knee and attended to his wound. However, his relief did not last long. When he just noticed a slight movement from Zenzou's body and was about to react, the ninja was already right in front of him and pierced the short katana at his heart.

"You… How did you…" Murakami muttered.

"I knew you're gonna use your spiders as a way to deliver your poison instead of the syringe or the kunai. That's why I covered myself with a special ointment that will make my body so slippery the spiders could not even stick themselves onto my skin." Said Zenzou as he brushed away the remaining spiders on his shoulders.

"Special… ointment?"

"My Borraginol hemorrhoid cream." Zenzou raised the tube in front of Murakami, smiling mischievously.

"That's…" Murakami could not finish the sentence and coughed up blood for the last time.

Zenzou solemnly looked at Murakami and pulled the katana out from his chest.

"I bet he's trying to say, that's disgusting." Zenzou heard the familiar grumpy voice and looked up to see Gintoki walking out from the forest with Ayame soundly sleeping on his back and the rest of the Yorozuya beside him.

"Yorozuya! You found Sarutobi."

"She was hiding in a tunnel under the shrine. Who knew there would be a tunnel there? Without Sadaharu, we wouldn't be able to find her at all." Said Shinpachi.

"Anyway, you guys bring Sarutobi back to the hospital. I'll still need to stay here to find the antidote. She wouldn't survive the poison without it." Said Zenzou as he looked at Ayame. Though she looked like she's sleeping, the paleness of her skin and lips could not stay unnoticed.

"I'll stay back to help you, Zenzou-san." Said Shinpachi. "Gin-san, Kagura-chan, you guys go first."

"Very well."

* * *

Zenzou and Shinpachi returned to the hospital by evening, looking defeated. There was no need to ask further questions from the look on their faces. Shinpachi flopped down tiredly on the hospital seat next to Gintoki, leaning his head against the wall. Zenzou found himself doing the same at the opposite seat.

"Has she woken up?" Asked Shinpachi. Both Gintoki and Kagura shook their heads.

Koyuki gave Zenzou and Shinpachi some take-out yakisoba. "You two must be hungry. Have some food."

Shinpachi gladly took it while Zenzou gently pushed it away. "I'm not. Glasses, take my portion too."

Normally, she would insist her son to eat so he can regain his energy, but today, she was also too tired herself and just passed the food to Shinpachi without protesting.

After finishing dinner, the Yorozuya excused themselves to go clean up at a nearby public shower. Despite looking all exhausted, they insisted to stay back at the hospital and wait for Ayame to wake up. Meanwhile, Koyuki went out to do some necessary groceries. Zenzou took the opportunity to put on his coat and hopped onto the windowsill at the hallway, looking for a tree branch to jump to.

"Where are you going, Zenzou?"

Zenzou's body froze a little. Every time he heard that sentence, he always imagined that Ayame was somewhere around, leaning her back against a wall or a tree, ready to reprimand him. But, it was his mother in that position now. It's funny that this time she didn't call him 'Zen-chan', making her sound more like Ayame than ever.

"I'm gonna go to the other ninja academy to see if they have the antidote."

"I can do that for you. You need some rest." Said Koyuki. "Besides, don't you want to be here for her?"

Zenzou clicked his tongue in annoyance. "What use do I have by being here?"

"It's not about being useful. You should at least say goodbye."

That was exactly what he's trying to avoid. Zenzou was terrible at goodbye. His departure was always a secretive one and every time Ayame caught him leaving without a word, he had another chance to hear one of her lectures.

"I won't be long. Anyway, she'd probably want to hear from that samurai instead of me."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Zenzou heard Gintoki's voice. He was sitting at one of the hallway chairs, picking his nose as usual. "The whole time she was sleeping on my back, she kept calling out for your name. Almost makes me jealous."

"That sounds like some scenario lifted directly from any shoujo manga."

"Hmm, now that you mention it, it does." Said Gintoki and flicked the booger on his finger away.

"Quit screwing with me." Zenzou grumbled.

"Doesn't mean that it can't come true." Said Gintoki with a calm expression. "Now, if this were a shoujo manga, what would you do?"


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

It was not the bright light that woke Ayame up. It was also not the warm handhold or the constant beeping sound of the monitor. It was the heavy breathing of someone sitting close to her that slowly brought her back to consciousness. She opened her eyes and lightly wiggled her fingers.

"Sarutobi…"

Even though he was whispering, she still knew it was him. He's the only one who called her by her last name.

"Zenzou…?" She squeezed his hand tighter.

"It's alright. You're in a hospital now."

"Murakami is…"

"He's dead now. We don't have to worry about him anymore."

Silence sank in. He did not know how to do this. He spent his whole life hearing from everyone around him that ninja shouldn't show emotion. Now all of a sudden, he had to say an emotional goodbye. He felt like a child learning how to walk again.

* * *

_"The first time I saw Shigeshige, I __didn't know he was the shogun and __asked Maizou, "Who is this dork?" and Maizou had to cover my mouth quickly, but I'm sure he heard it. Then, when Maizou told me I would have to shave my head just like him, I can see that satisfied look in his eyes." _

_"I see."_

_"Zenzou, you have to remember those stories, okay? They may sound mundane to you but I hope that some day, you will sit down, have tea with Shigeshige and he will have someone to reminisce the precious time between us."_

_"I got it, Kagemaru."_

* * *

_"Pops, I'm here. You have something to say to me?"_

_"Zen…zou… __Do you remember… that day… I sold all your Jump… and… you were so angry… at me?"_

_"Yes, I didn't talk to you for a month."_

_"The truth is… I used the money… to buy porn DVD…"_

* * *

Perhaps, goodbyes did not have to be dramatic and sentimental. Perhaps, all he had to do was reliving his memory.

"Sarutobi, do you remember when we were kids…?"

And they talked and talked about their childhood. After all, these memories were the most precious things in his life and she was the only one who shared them.

Looking back, they couldn't stop giggling about how foolish they were as children. Yet, his tears refused to stay put, one drop after another. To laugh and cry at the same time, it's a bizarre thing. Laughter slowly turned to the betraying sniffling sound that Zenzou was desperately trying to hide.

"Zenzou…?"

Zenzou placed his hand on her cheeks. He could feel his heart thumping like it was going to jump out of his chest. His face got closer to hers and he could hear her heart beating just as fast. Slowly and tenderly, their lips locked. This time, it was real.

"Zenzou…" Ayame also slowly raised her hand and placed it on his cheek.

Short pause followed.

"Why are you acting like I'm about to die, you idiot?" She lightly tapped his face.

"Huh? What?" Zenzou was still under the trance and could not fathom what was going on.

"Oi, oi, hemorrhoid ninja! Look here!" Zenzou heard Gintoki's voice at the door.

'YOU'VE BEEN PUNK'D' was the first words he saw in a large banner hung at the hospital door for however long he didn't notice, along with the Yorozuya and his mother walking in, all with a naughty look on their face. Shinpachi raised an empty vial in his hand, presumably the antidote vial. Zenzou turned to look at Ayame, who was still seemingly unaware of what was happening.

"We already gave Sacchan-san the antidote which we found in Murakami's pocket." Explained Shinpachi.

"Seriously, you ninja are dumb. You spent your whole day to find some stupid moss while not thinking that an assassin who used poison is definitely gonna have an antidote with him." Said Gintoki.

"Gin-chan, Sacchan was the one who pointed that out to you. You didn't even think of it on your own." Kagura glared at the samurai full of judgement.

"Wait, Zenzou. You didn't know that I already got the antidote? They didn't tell you?"

"Sorry, dear. It was the only way to get you two closer after all." Koyuki winked.

"You should've seen how your son pranked me last time. I was left hanging in the grass field for 2 weeks. This was nothing."

"Oh my, Zen-chan!"

Everyone stopped their discussion at Koyuki's exclaim and saw Zenzou collapsing on the floor. Shinpachi quickly ran out and brought in a doctor to check up on the ninja.

"What's wrong? Is he okay?" Ayame anxiously climbed down from the bed.

"He's okay, just very exhausted. Let him rest for a while." Said the doctor while eyeing Ayame. "You need to rest too, Sarutobi-san."

"Well, we may have overdone it a little bit." Gintoki scratched his hair with slight embarrassment.

"Yeah, I think his wound opened up again. There's blood." Said Kagura, pointing at Zenzou's pants.

"That's not his wound. That's his hemorrhoid."

* * *

Ayame covered her ears with a pillow in annoyance to muffle the creaking sound coming from the other bed, but she could not completely insulate the noise.

"Go to sleep already! I can't sleep because of your bed creaking." She finally spoke up.

"I can't help it. I need to apply Borraginol cream and my body is now aching all over."

The curtain that separated between two beds was suddenly swept to one side, causing Zenzou to jump.

"Hey, what are you doing?" He quickly pulled up his pants in embarrassment.

Ayame took the Borraginol tube from his hand. "Lie down. I'll help you apply your cream."

Zenzou was too stunned by what she said that he just stared at Ayame for a while.

"What? It's not like I haven't seen your ass before."

"No, but I've learned not to expose my weak point to you the hard way."

"The best way to protect it is not to offend me. If you just quietly let me do the job, your ass will thank you and I can go back to sleep."

Part of Zenzou was still haunted by the needle, the chikuwa and the candle being shoved up his ass. But looking at Ayame right now, he knew that refusing her offer probably constituted as offending her.

"Okay..."

For a while, neither of them spoke. Zenzou was too scared to accidentally blurt out an insensitive comment that may trigger her Shimatsuya mode. However, the awkward silence between them had become heavy, so he decided to risk running his mouth free.

"You're pretty good at this." If there was one thing Zenzou learnt about talking to women, it's that compliments never hurt. In most cases, anyway.

"Good at applying hemorrhoid cream for you?"

Zenzou could sense the killing intent coming strongly from behind and knew he had misspoken again. He scratched his head, thinking of what to say next to remedy the situation.

"I have to be. Who else would take care of you from now on?" Said Ayame as she took out the rubber gloves from her hands.

Zenzou turned around and saw Ayame looking away from him, but he was sure he could see her pink cheeks blushing.

"Did you just confess to my ass… AAAAAAAAHHH!"

From outside, Koyuki moved away from the hospital room door and was ready to head home.

"Be happy, Zen-chan."

* * *

**Final Notes**

Phew! That's it! I've had this story in my head for a while but only until now that I managed to finish in writing. It's definitely easier said than done. Thank you for those who have followed and reviewed my story! Special shout-out to Souma Sumire, who has helped review every single one of my chapters with very constructive feedback and gave me some motivation to finish the story (also an amazing story writer)! Arigatou gozaimashita!


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